Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Android smartphone

Smartphones are seriously powerful pieces of kit and with this one Sony has tried to take advantage of the extra oomph.

The Xperia Play is a combination of an Android smartphone with a portable games console, complete with a large, slide-out gaming control pad.

We were really impressed with the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and this phone has some of the same features. The special theme that Sony Ericsson has added to Android on both phones looked great and made using the handset really easy.

It comes with lots of well-designed widgets including ones for watching videos and playing music. We were also impressed by the customised calendar and the news and weather updates. Unfortunately, the build quality was on the poor side: the Xperia Play felt quite cheap and plasticky, and the screen was too dim, which meant colours looked dull.

The gaming interface felt confusing and unfinished. Sliding out the control pad started the gaming launcher mode, from which you can start games, but sliding it back didn't bring the phone out of this mode. Some games used the physical controls while others, such as the Fifa 10 football title, employed a strange combination of touchscreen controls and buttons – a complete waste of the physical controls on the phone.

We found the gaming buttons awkwardly positioned and quite difficult to press, which made it uncomfortable to play for prolonged periods of time. It can also play standard Android games but in these the control pad isn't used at all. The range of Sony games was disappointing –  most seemed to be poorly made rip-offs of well-known titles. In several other ways, the Xperia Play simply felt unfinished.

The addition of the games pad also made the phone feel clunky. For a smartphone it is quite hefty, weighing in at 175g – by comparison, the iPhone 4 weighs 137g.

The Xperia Play is expensive for an Android handset. With prices starting at £35 a month on contract (£480 without a contract), there are far better smartphones available for less. And if it's portable gaming you're after, a Nintendo DS is a better buy.